13 a-mazing Goodgymmers defied the hordes of football fans flocking down the High Road to run and help a local park to look spic-and-span!

Kudos corner (to be read to the tune of Shaft) *

Who's the lovely young man

That's a deed machine to all the Goodgyms? (K!)

You're damn right

Who is the man that would run everywhere for a deed, man? (K!)

Can ya dig it?

Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's deeds all about? (K)

Right on

You see this cat K is a badgym mother (Don't you doubt it)

But I'm talkin' about K (Then we can dig it)

He's not a complicated man but no one understands him fully but his fam (GGH)*

Happy 50th Deed, K <3

Swept Off Our Feet By Kapil's 50 Deeds

We congregated at HQ to the news that Kapil had snuck under the cover of the January Challenge and reached the 50 deeds mark, much to his trainer's surprise who expected this momentous occasion to still be a good month away.

Never one to miss a step, this trainer jumped into action and allowed Kapil to lead our warm up with one of his favourite games: the burpee game. Such is the measure of the K man.

When everyone's patience and good spirits had reached breaking point at Kapil's Energiser-bunny-burpeeness, we set off for a good 3kish run. Today's theme: Avoid the Spurs fans walking down the High Road. Reader, we weren't very successful.

No matter, before you knew it, Laura from Friends of Tottenham Green was welcoming us with open arms, good vibes, and plenty of fun tools.

We divided into three teams: the dandies, the litter-busters, and the be-leafers.

The dandies rained upon the dandelions on the Green's flowerbeds with such gusto and force that it looked like they were trying to dig their way to the other side of the world.

The litter-busters left the green looking gorgeous and litter-free, and even managed to pick all rubbish from under the benches in the park. Over and beyond the call of duty.

The be-leafers put their backs into a nice fun task. They first moved a wooden framed across the park and then they proceeded to fill it up with the leaves they collected from a so-far untouched section of the Green this winter. Reader, they were like cyborg good deeders sent from the future with a ruthless mission in mind. And they'll be back, no doubt.

We then bid Laura farewell and had a rather easy and in no way taxing fitness session. Our very own Special K loved the plyometric frog jumps in particular.

Having worked up an appetite, we forewent the second half of our run and instead dug deep into Kapil's well earned cake.

A good night was had by all, I believe.

Join us next week! Brand new task, fun new start location!

Boom!

The Goodgym January Challenge is heating up and GGHaringey is still working away, trying for a Top 10 finish. At the halfway line, we are still sitting pretty in the 13th spot with 75 good deeds and over 700kms covered this month. A good innings so far but we'll have to push on for the second half of the month if we are going to make the Top 10. We can do it!

Kudos Galore

Check you out Rhiannon and Madeleine, crushing the ten deeds mark with such aplomb, I'm frankly gobsmacked it's not closer to 50 - GGHaringey DNA through and through, you are. Boom! And it was lovely to have Sam visiting from GGIslington - we hope we haven't scared you away!

A not so terribulb night

16 wonderful Goodgymmers congregated at GGH HQ, where their frankly shambolic trainer harassed them with shouts of 'Brave New Worlds' and scary fitness sessions. In true GGH stoic fashion, no-one complained and got on with some nice dynamic warm up stretches.

Before you knew it, we were traversing the streets of Tottenham for a '2 or 3 kish' run. Our stoic goodgymmers didn't even bat an eye. We ran past a lovely lit Bruce Castle before turning right on Tottenham High Road towards HQ. It was around this point that Ke-On shouted "have we just run in circles?" and reader, yes we had. But there was method to the madness.

Our hosts for the night were the wonderful Friends of Tottenham Green back at HQ where we planted bulbs to our hearts' content, to the melodic strains of the "Tottenham Lullaby" (as Mo explained, the sound of the police sirens going by).

Laura from FOTG let us loose with spades, forks and plenty of future award-winning flowers and our goodgymmers planted what I'm guessing were hundreds of flowers (they were very busy planters).

We then had a rather active fitness session in the shadow of the Bernie Grant Arts Centre that didn't turn out so scary in the end, and I might even add, some enjoyed.

Julie then led a nice 1kish run around the block, stretching her legs and getting ready for her BIG 100! We said goodbye to rock star Sarah for a few weeks, as she's popping over across the world for a wee run. We'll be cheering you on so you better win it - no pressure!

Then it was home time for some well deserved rest.

Not a terribulb night at all.

Join us on Saturday, for our taster session. Come and meet loads of new runners and walkers and plant trees at the Westbury Banks Nature Reserve.

And I'm still trying to find a task for next week but it's Julie's 100th as mentioned above so you have to come. And then join us for a nice, sedate* social afterwards.

Peace!

*Disclaimer: It might not be too 'sedate' but it will be nice :)

Just as you thought it was getting too cold out there, 11 intrepid Goodgymmers and a couple of random nude artistes spotted in the wild came out to confound expectations in Haringey.

Award Ceremony Thank You Speech

Big love and woop woops for every single one of our runners last night. It was cold, dark, dogs were angry, letterboxes almost frozen shut AND YET the lovely Goodgym Haringey lot sang through the night. Adam, Nurjehan, Charlie, Rita, Kapil, Sarah, Kandy, Cathy, Madeleine and Dave - absolute heroes!

The Naked Truth

Let's not dwell on it but also let's get it out of the way from the start: A lot of nudity, chest hair, and hairdryers were witnessed during this group run. If that floats your boat and you want more details, send questions on a postcard.

The wonderful New Tottenham Singers Choir have been hard at work practicing and honing their performance for the forthcoming festive concert on the 14th of December and we were lucky to play a little part.

We had a multitude of leaflets to hand out and our 11 goodgymmers did a stupendous job.

Sarah led the walking group down the High Road, leafleting as they went. I huffed and puffed with the runners until we arrived at St Mary's Church (where the concert will take place) and we proceeded to flyer the surrounding streets. Our runners leapfrogged each other on the doorstep, singing carols as we went along, and soon enough our walkers had joined us too. All in all, within about half an hour this crack team had managed to distribute all the leaflets we had with us.

We ran back to HQ the long way as some of our runners were yet to hit their daily mileage target and by the time we got to HQ, the walking team had reached HQ too.

Sarah kindly led us on a very lively stretching session, followed by the now seemingly customary 'roast the trainer' session -(this time it was about my running attire - it is still short weather, sorry).

After our Haringey GG High Fives, we said our goodbyes. As always, it was a great night.

Don't believe me? Come and join us next week, when we'll be visiting the Haringey Foodbank.

Also, don't forget about the Goodgym Xmas Party on the 6th December.

AND SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR GOODGYM HARINGEY CHRISTMAS SOCIAL - 18TH DECEMBER AFTER OUR LAST GROUP RUN OF THE DECADE - More details to follow

Peace!

Roll up, roll up, everyone - Grandpa Euclides has quite the yarn to tell. 10 daring goodgymmers bounced around Tottenham Green, still feeling the sugar rush from last week's sweeties feast, and left the Green looking Tip Top Woop!

Baby Steps

All stories have to start somewhere, so let's start this one with a birth. GGH stalwart Rhiannon has frankly been slacking of late when it comes to the group runs but I guess we'll forgive her now since she has only gone and made a whole new person! And what a handsome little person he is <3 She can have a couple of weeks off, I guess.

Also, big kudos for Adam who joined us for his Goodgym debut and he brought the house down. Rock star!

A Night At The Park

We hadn't visited our gracious HQ hosts at Friends of Tottenham Green since Grandpa Euclides started minding the shop a few months back. So, our long overdue homecoming saw us getting on with a long list of jobs.

However, before we got on with it, we split into two groups and set off for a wee topsy-turvy leg spinner in the cold November night. Our walking group, which was meant to do a 2k walk, ended up doing a very lovely run in the end instead. Our running group, which was meant to do a 5k run, ended up doing just under 4k. Life is like a box of chocolates and all that.

At the task, we picked litter, swept the fallen autumn leaves, and rode the ivy train by getting through an almost farcical amount of ivy. Oh, reader, you should've seen these goodgymmers. Not even the threat of incoming rain managed to break their resolute work. Grandpa Euclides had to physically drag some of them from the Green to make room for our fitness session.

After a few sets of burpees, lunges, squats, and some good ol' questioning of Grandpa Euclides' timekeeping, we high-fived our way into the night.

Don't forget that it's party time on Friday!

And please come to our task next week. It's a special edition with fun one-off start and end points. Then it'll be our social so we'll go searching for food and beverages afterwards. Happy days!